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New Fire assistant coach Clint Mathis scored a few goals in his career, many of which were stunning.

There was this darting run in 2001 vs. Dallas that wound up winning MLS Goal of the Year.

There was also this one-time volley from 2004 while playing for Hannover 96 in Germany.

But if you got this far into this blog post and didn't already know what the favorite goal of Clint's career was, you haven't been a U.S. Soccer fan long enough. Of course you know what it is:

Daegu, South Korea.

June 10, 2002.

John O'Brien.

24th minute.

Deft touch with his right.

Beautiful finish with his left.

Jack Edwards: "That's why he's here!"

When I asked him this question which was very easily answered, Clint, with his Southern Charm, responded like he'd never been asked before saying, "The goal in 2002. That’s one that my kids can tell their grandkids and it’s one of those situations where I have some goals I remember playing in the league but it’s different when you score in MLS vs. the World Cup.

"I think the significance behind that goal – it ended up being the one goal we needed to get out of the group because of the other results that happened on the final day to put us through – you just can’t rate anything higher than that. You can't forget it."

As Sunday's first preseason friendly vs. Florida Gulf Coast University approaches, more number choices are being made.

Today's "Numbers Game" features the club's two new Homegrown players Chris Ritter and Harry Shipp who have chosen #21 and #19 respectively. Asked if their was any significance behind their number choice, both said, "No, not really."

Thanks guys!

The #19 shirt has been worn by nine players previously and was actually worn by six different player's in the club's first five years. Those were Josh Keller, Jeff Zaun, Yuri Lavrinenko, Chad Prince and David Vaudreuil before Craig Capano donned the shirt from 2002-2004. Jim Curtin's little brother Jeff wore #19 in 2007 while Corben Bone was the most recent #19 from 2010-2013.

Most notably, Chad Barrett (pictured above) switched to the #19 shirt in 2008 when the club acquired Tomasz Frankowski who moved into the #9 shirt. Barrett wore #19 for half a season before being dealt to Toronto FC in the Brian McBride trade that August. So in closing, Harry has the chance to really make #19 his own.

Conversely, Ritter is just the fourth player in club history to wear the #21 shirt. Michael Videira most recently wore it the past three seasons but before him, two of the club's top offensive leaders wore #21.

They were...

Dema Kovalenko (1999-2002)

Justin Mapp (2003-2010)

Coincidentally, the Fire acquired Mapp from D.C. United for Dema Kovalenko prior to the start of the 2003 MLS campaign. Kovalenko sits fourth on the club's All Competitions goal scoring list with 26, while Mapp sits fourth on the All Competitions assists list with 35.

When you go on preseason with the Chicago Fire, there are just certain things you get used to...

- All the soccer you can handle
- All the Chicago Fire training gear you can handle
- Three minute drives to Ave Maria's North Park
- A drink or three at the local Queen Mary Pub
- Animals at training...

Merle obviously reads Always on the Inside because when I went to switch my camera to record video, she quickly moved along for fear of becoming what some know as "Charlie the Alligator-famous".. Alas, all I got was this photo:

After a day of travel, the Chicago Fire first team arrived at its preseason home for the next week Sunday afternoon here in Ave Maria, Fla. Frank Yallop's first training session was a relaxed affair as Strength and Conditioning Coach Tony Jouaux led the team through a lengthy jog, stretching and stride exercises to loosen the muscles.

The team will begin regular sessions Monday morning at 10:30am ET at Ave Maria's North Park. See photos of today's session below: